SOWELA rebuild almost complete - KPLC

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Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - SOWELA has spent the last year rebuilding their campus after Hurricanes Laura and Delta destroyed or damaged all of it’s buildings, but they are nearing the end of their long construction process.

“Our buildings are beginning to open back up, our campus. We’ve been correcting the problems of Delta and Laura, and we’re coming back to normal,” said Chancellor of SOWELA Dr. Neil Aspinwall.

SOWELA went right to work on the construction after the hurricane hit the campus. Six of the buildings only had minor damages and have been completely repaired. Four of the buildings had more severe damages and have been partially repaired. Those four buildings are currently being used for classes.

“They’re at the point that they’ve been inspected and they’re safe to use, but there’s punch list items,” Dr. Aspinwall said. “The materials aren’t coming in, so we can’t finish the buildings.”

Two of the buildings on campus were too damaged to be saved and were completely torn down. One of those buildings, the Arts and Humanities building, was torn down to the ground, and is now being rebuilt from scratch.

“The arts and humanities program, which was actually what we called the ‘poster child for hurricane Laura and Delta,’ it was totally destroyed,” Dr. Aspinwall said.

Despite the damages, SOWELA’s enrollment rates are skyrocketing. The arts and humanities program enrollment increased by 120 percent despite the tear down of the program’s building.

The machine tool technology program enrollment increased by 150 percent, and industrial electrical technology had a 41.6 percent increase from fall 2020.

SOWELA welcomed students back to campus two weeks ago, and Dr. Aspinwall said students were ready to get back into the classroom with their classmates and instructors.

“I’m very pleased with everything we’ve been through, and still trying to rebuild and the inconvenience, what we’ve found is the students want to come back to class. Many of our programs are technical in nature,” Dr. Aspinwall said. “They have the equipment. They have the labs. You know, there’s some of this stuff you just can’t put online.”

Dr. Aspinwall said the construction on the 12 original buildings should be completed in the next four months.

SOWELA has also broke ground on a brand new building that will belong to a program training students to work in casinos, restaurants or other hospitality settings.

“What we did is we designed a building called the Center for Culinary, Gaming and Hospitality that begins to train the workforce for the large casinos and the hospitality and restaurant industry,” Dr. Aspinwall said.

That new building is set to be complete by next May.

The entire rebuild process has cost SOWELA around $100 million.

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